A Different Story
by Peaches9675
Summary: When the untimely demise of Sophia's parents occurred, Severus took the child in. Though the two have their rough moments, they tend to get along for the most part... usually. These are mostly one or two shots! Contains my OC Sophia (not the same Sophia from New Family)
1. Chapter 1

"Sophia, off the table."

"I'm sure the table is built sturdily enough to hold my weight, Severus."

Said man now looked up at the curly haired child. "Off Sophia. Now."

The 5th year Gryffindor rolled her eyes and slid from the table to the chair. Sophie rested her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. Silence, only comfortable for one, sat between them. Severus moved from here to there in the dining room that stretched into the living room and walkway out of the house. Whether he was cleaning or simple rearranging items escaped Sophie, though she had been living with Severus for a few years.

He really wasn't a bad guardian, considering how much some of the students at Hogwarts hated him. She recalled how when she told some of her friends that the terrifying potions professor was going to be her guardian they had all acted like it was the worst thing to ever happen. Though, at the time, she thought it was the worst thing to happen as well.

Her fingers began to trace patterns into the wood of the table as she thought back to when she had been given the news of her parents untimely demise.

* * *

It had been halfway through her first year at Hogwarts when she was delivered the news: a madman has murdered her parents. Sophie was called into Dumbledore's office late in the night, Professor McGonagall had escorted her from the Gryffindor dormitory. Upon entering, she was ushered into a seat and offered a numerous amount of candy.

"Headmaster, I'm sorry but, why am I here? Did I do something wrong?" Sophia looked between the two professors in the room.

"No, Sophia, no... You are not in any trouble." Dumbledore soothed her worries. "There is, however, unsettling news. Have you ever heard of the man Andrew Bernai?"

Sophie shook her head, black curls bouncing, "No, Headmaster. I haven't."

The two adults shared a look before taking a seat on the couch in front of her. Gently the news was broken to her with the professors almost over-explaining what had taken place the previous day. Throughout the explanation, Sophia stared at a single spot on the wall and stayed perfectly silent. When the explaining was over Sophia let out a shaking breath and said:

"So, professors... What will happen to me now?"

McGonagall reached out and took her hand in her own. "You'll be taken care of, Sophia. Now, why don't you go back to your dormitory and get some sleep, it'll do you good."

Around an hour later Severus found her in an empty corridor sitting in a windowsill. He had been much too rigid and rude and her much too tired and distraught for any real conversation to happen short of hurtful comments and sniffling tears. That emotional encounter had ended with an incredibly awkward hug and a slightly less-distraught child going back to bed.

* * *

" ia... ophia... Sophia!" Her head snapped up and was greeted with the sight of her guardian looking very cross.

"Hmm, What? I'm sorry."

Severus let out a soft sigh and said rather tightly, "I'm heading out to Diagon Alley to pick up some potion ingredients. I was going to ask if you wanted to accompany me, but seeing as you're too distracted to hear me in this quiet room, perhaps the sights and sounds of Diagon Alley would render you useless."

The words stung Sophie to the point of where it must have showed on her face for Severus' eyes narrowed slightly and the corners of his mouth twitched downward. She stood up and quietly said, "Well all right then. I hope you find what you need."

Severus glanced down at his wrist to a silver banded watch with a green face. "The store will be closing soon, I need to go." His gaze switched back to her, "Will you be coming or-"

"No really, it's fine. Go on and go before the store closes."

"Sophia-"

She cut him off again, already walking away waving her arms in the air "There's a book I've been wanting to read in the library, I'll do that while you're gone."

She paused in the doorway and heard him sigh. "Fine then. Keep out of trouble, I'll be back soon." With a woosh of the floo, Severus was gone and Sophie was alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Sophia moved around the bookshelves looking for her favorite fairytale, _The Tales of Beedle The Bard._ She ran her finger along the spines of dusty old books, stirring up the dust bunnies. A few moments a bought of sneezes overcame her.

"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!... Ugh" Wiping her nose she left the dusty old library. "We really need to dust in there more..."

Sophie now wandered towards the stairs. The house Sophie shared with Severus was an old one, but it was still nice. Rather plain on the inside, or at least, it had been when she first moved in. But slowly Sophie's creativity and love of art had spread from her room throughout the house. The upstairs walls were dotted here and there with various paintings, some very well known, others not so much. About half-way up the stairs, she paused and sat down.

Sophia had made it her personal project one summer to paint the front of the stairs with the various emblems of the 4 houses at Hogwarts. She now traced the one she had the most trouble with; the Slytherin Snake.

* * *

Sophia let out an extremely loud and frustrated groan as she wiped away paint once more from the stair step. "This shouldn't be this hard, and yet, it's impossible!" She slouched again the wall and stared at the step that vexed her.

"Having an issue?" Severus asked in a rather long drawl, "Is a snake really that troubling? You had no problem coming up with a lion and a badger."

Sophie sighed and crossed her arms, "Yes, Severus, I am aware of the hilariousness of my predicament. It should be rather easy to draw a snake, it's basically a bubbly S."

He fished his wand out of his robes, "Come here, Sophia, and bring your wand. I want to show you something."

Even in her extremely agitated mood, Sophie was always curious when it came to magic and new spells. Untieing her smock, she went up the stairs to her room to fetch her wand. Feeling as though the young girl could move with a bit more haste, Severus called up after her, "We don't have all day, Sophia."

Hearing her pace quicken across the wooden floors, he allowed a small smile to cross his features. "What are you going to show me?" was called from the stairwell.

"Well if you would come down we could get started." A few clomping steps and she was in front of him.

The better part of the hour was used in showing her how to make a design with her wand. Yet, somehow, at the end of the hour, Sophia was still unable to form a simple snake.

"All my snakes look like they were run over," said the rather glum girl, "Whereas yours look perfect."

"Your snakes really aren't that bad, Sophia." He glanced at the 'snake' on the stair, "Well... perhaps they are a bit squashed." Sophie simply moaned and rested her head on her knees. Severus raised his hand in the air before hesitating. It hung there, suspended in the air, before finally settling rather awkwardly on her back.

The reaction was almost immediate, Sophie straightened and leaned into Severus, resting her head on his shoulder. His arm relaxed and wrapped around her slim shoulders. "Would you like me to draw the snake for you? You will fini-"

"Oh yes, yes please!" Sophia sprang up and grinned down at him. "That'll be perfect Severus! Thank you! I'll go get you a smock." and she was gone.

The rest of that day was spent finishing up the stairs. When Severus finished the 3 snakes he was assigned, he left to make dinner. About an hour later he called out for her. When no reply came he went in search of his young charge.

Sophia had fallen asleep on the top step, laying on her side with her legs drawn into her chest. "Troublesome little monster," He grumbled and with a flick of his wand she was floating in the air. Severus hovered Sophie into the bathroom that was attached to her room. With a light tap on her head, she woke up. "Come on Sophia, you must clean yourself up before retiring."

Sophie yawned and stretched, nodding. "Yeah. Okay. I'll take a shower."

"Good." Severus turned and left her. A bit later he headed back up with a plate consisting of rice, a chicken breast, and broccoli. A swift knock and a sleepy 'come in' let him enter the girls room. Sophia was sitting at her vanity running some various hair product through her back curls.

She sniffed the air once, twice, before twisting around. Her eyes still showed the extremely tired she must be feeling. "That for me?"

"Yes, as long as you don't fall asleep on the food." She cast him a look and he simply handed the food to her with a slight smirk.

"Thank you, Severus."

"When you're finished, bring the plate down." Severus turned and walked to the door, pausing in the frame. "Since you've decided to waste a whole day on artwork, you can wash the dishes tomorrow and then clean the kitchen."

With a mouthful of chicken and rice, all Sophia could do was wave her fork in his direction and scowl.

"Goodnight Sophia, sleep well."

* * *

The house groaned slightly as the wind began to pick up. Gathering her thoughts, she stood up and went back on her quest for _The Tales Of Beedle The Bard._


	3. Chapter 3

The wind blew harshly against the house. Sophia looked out the window of her bedroom, the rain clouds were blowing in. _It'll be pouring soon_ , she thought, turning away from the window, _I wonder when Severus will be home._

Moving to her bed, Sophie fingered through the pages of _The Tales Of Beedle The_ _Bard_ to take her mind off it all _._ It had taken her a few hours of digging around, but she finally found the book in an old chest from her childhood home, along with quite a bit of other stuff.

The pages of this copy were soft and worn from years of use. Sophia had loved each and every one of the stories in the book as a child. In fact, she still did.

In her other hand was one of her favorite teddies that she used to play with all the time. She held the bear above her head smiling at it. The bear reminded her of when she had been a little kid, and would play with her parents, running all over their home.

The floo swished downstairs, but Sophia didn't hear it. The young girl was long gone, lost in memories.

Severus entered the room quietly and looked around. _Well_ , he thought, glancing around, _at least the little monster didn't wreck the house while I was gone_. He moved down the little hallway that ran beside the stairs. At the end was his potions storage room.

The storage room may look small, but the shelves moved around and rotated so that there was plenty of room for the Potions Master. The house was unusually quiet. Severus glanced down at his wrist.

Sophia had gotten him the watch for Christmas when she was a third year. It really was a beautiful thing, a silver band with a green watch face. Around the face were tiny silver snakes. A perfect watch for the Head of Slytherin House.

The time on the watch read 10:23. It was a bit early for Sophia to be asleep, especially on holiday. He wasn't used to the quiet house anymore, his charge was quite a noisy thing. Thinking back to after dinner, he wondered if his remark had been a tad too harsh. She had looked quite upset, he mused, perhaps he'd go and check on her.

A few moments later Severus stood in Sophie's open doorway watching her stare off into space clutching a teddy in one hand and the other resting on a book. Walking in he glanced at the title of said book.

" _The Tales Of Beedle The Bard_? Is that the book you've been wanting to read, Sophia?" She jumped and sat up, wheeling her head around to look at him.

"When did you get back Severus?" It may have been the lighting, but her eyes looked a bit misty to him.

"Just a little while ago, did you not hear the floo?"

Sheepishly, Sophie drew her knees up to her chest. "Sorry, I was thinking."

"Well, that's a change," Severus said dryly looking down at his charge.

Sophia huffed and stood up, setting both book and bear down. "You know," She said as she walked towards the dresser, "You've been very snarky today." She pulled out some pajamas.

Severus watched her move around then behind a privacy screen to change. "Have I?" Her head popped out.

"Yes, yes you have. You weren't very nice after dinner. I wasn't ignoring you, I was just thinking. Like when you came home just now, I was just thinking about stuff." She walked out and past him, bouncing back onto her bed, pulling her legs under the covers.

"Hmm," Severus grabbed the chair from the vanity and placed it near Sophia's bed. "I suppose I have been a bit... snarky. Care to share what you've been thinking about all day, little monster?"

"Oh... Nothing really... Just stuff." Severus raised an eyebrow at her. "About my parents I guess" His eyes softened at that, "And the stairs."

"The stairs?" He asked in a curious voice, parents he could understand but stairs?

"Yeah," Sophie glanced away from Severus and to the window where the rain was starting to come down. "Remember when we painted the stairs with all the different emblems? And I couldn't figure out how to paint the snake, so you showed me how and wound up painting all the snakes for me?"

Severus leaned back and nodded, "Yes I recall that. Then the next day you were supposed to clean the whole kitchen and 'forgot'."

Sophie grinned at him. "Yeah, it was a fun day." She felt around the edges of the book, "So, since you were very snarky today-"

"Yes, I am sorry for that Sophia." A large flash of lightning and a booming clap of thunder caused both heads to jerk to the window.

Sophia looked back at Severus and gave a slight smile, "Oh it's all right. But, anyways, since the weather is so bad and all, maybe I could convince you to read me a story from this." She presented Severus with her copy of _The Tales Of Beedle The Bard_.

He took it from her and stared for a moment before asking "How old are you again?"

Sophie rolled her eyes and laid down in her bed, cuddling the teddy, "I know, I know... It's just that this day has brought back a lot of memories of my parents and whenever the weather got this bad they'd usually read me a story from that book... I guess I just kinda miss that. " She looked up at Severus; he still looked doubtful, "Besides you were really snarky so I think I deserve a story? Please?"

Sighing, Severus crossed his legs and opened the book. "Which story would you prefer, and you only get one."

Almost immediately Sophie said, "The Wizard And The Hopping Pot, it's one of my favorites."

And so the story began "There was once a kindly old wizard who used his magic generously and wisely for the benefit of his neighbors. Rather than reveal the true source of his power, he pretended that his potions, charms, and antidotes sprang ready-made from the little cauldron he called his lucky cooking pot. From miles around, people came to him with their troubles, and the wizard was-"

"Why do you call me little monster?"

Severus stopped reading and looked at the tiring girl. "Excuse me?"

"You call me Little Monster a lot. Why?" He looked taken aback.

"I... I'm not sure. It seems fitting considering how young you are and the fact that you're a bit of a monster sometimes."

Sophia's eyes widened, "I am not a mons-"

"Sophia do you want me to finish the story or not?" Sophia sighed and snuggled back down.

"Yes please."

"Very well, where were we... The wizard was pleased to give his pot a stir, and put things right..."

The storm had reached it's the maximum point where the winds whipped the house and the rain beat down against the roof and windows when Severus had finished the story. Closing the book he glanced at the young girl.

Sophia was mostly asleep, curling around the bear like a lifeline.

"Hmm." Severus let a small smile slip onto his face and reached out to pull the covers up to her chin.

"Mmmm... night dad..." Came the mumbled words. Severus froze, suspended slightly over the child. Finally, his body relaxed and Severus smiled. He rested a hand on the side of her face, brushing her hair back.

"Goodnight, Little Monster."


	4. Chapter 4

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